Only 21 Air India routes profitable out of 100: Hardeep Singh Puri

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, in Parliament, said Air India’s only 21 routes, including nine domestic and twelve international, are profitable. Only these routes can cover the total cost of operating flights on 100 routes on which the airline operated between April 2019 and March 2020, he further added. Puri’s response indicated that Air India operates in 56 domestic and 44 international destinations and out of those 101 domestic and 10 international routes, it does not cover variable costs.

“Air India continuously monitors market developments and the performance of its flights and conducts studies with the aim of withdrawing, introducing new routes or increasing / decreasing the frequency of existing routes. Air India has withdrawn flights that did not meet fixed / variable costs,” said Puri. He said that services on loss-making routes will be analyzed based on their strategic importance before deciding whether to withdraw or continue those routes.